Reference to Harry's pureblood status (was: Is Harry a pureblood?)

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 44210

Ali recalled an interview in which JKR called Harry a half-
blood. And I posted the snip from the interview where JKR says that 
Harry "finds out that he is a half-blood: to a 
wizard like Lucius Malfoy, he will never be a true wizard, because 
his mother was of Muggle parentage."

And I then commented:

> So I think the definition depends on who's defining it. To 
> Riddle/Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy, who are filled with 
> prejudice, a wizard is only a pure-blood if there are no Muggles 
> from which they are descended. But to more enlightened individuals, 
> Harry is a pure-blood because both of his parents were wizards.

And bugaloo37 responded:

> There is something I disagree with you about. As far as defining 
> the terms pure-blood and half-blood, IMO, it is Voldemort and his 
> crew that have established the definitions. I cannot recall that at 
> anytime is Harry referred to as being "pure-blood" -either by his 
> friends or his enemies. Harry's friends do not use the terms pure-
> blood, half-blood or mudblood to classify individuals. These are 
> terms used and therefore, defined by Voldemort and the DE's.

And Jim asked:

> Well, JKR said it, so what can I say? Thanks for finding the quote. 
> But it leaves a question pretty much like the previous question: If 
> Harry, the son of a witch and wizard, is a half-blood, then what's 
> Seamus Finnegan, the son of a wizard and a Muggle? 

Now me again:

I agree with bugaloo37 that Voldemort and the DEs (as Darrin would 
have said, good name for a band?) have come up with the definitions.  
But in reading GoF just this morning, I came across a passage in 
which Hagrid uses the term pureblood:  When HRH go to see Hagrid in 
his hut after Skeeter reveals that Hagrid is a half-giant, Hagrid 
tells Harry "You know, I'd like to see you win this tournament – it 
would prove that you don't have to be a pureblood to do it"(liberal 
translation – I didn't bring GoF to work with me today <evil grin>).

Of course, this quote completely contradicts what I said earlier 
about the non-DEs believing Harry to be a pureblood (unless we view 
Hagrid as "unenlightened")!

I think we need to look at the context of what JKR said in that 
interview. After she refers to Harry as a half-blood, she immediately 
follows this statement with a reference to Lucius Malfoy not 
believing him to be a true wizard because of his mother's heritage.  
I think this is an important qualifier – since it's only to scum like 
Lucius that a wizard's heritage matters, one's blood status is really 
fairly irrelevant to the rest of the wizarding population.  The only 
time I see that it is relevant to non-scumbags is when such prejudice 
leads to violence and death.

I'm also recalling at the end of GoF when Dumbledore tells Fudge that 
Fudge has "always been concerned with the purity of blood."  To me, 
this puts Fudge squarely in the company of Lucius et al to whom such 
purity matters (and provides more fuel for the Evil!Fudge theory!).

~Phyllis